The 8 Best Recurring Arrested Development Jokes

Now that the Arrested Development movie has been confirmed as a sure thing (knock on wood), I felt it was the time to take a look back at the series’ best running jokes. The show failed because 90% of the jokes were based on older episodes, and that didn’t make for very good promo commercials, because people are stupid. But here they are, with as much video evidence as I could provide. I’m hoping all of them make a cameo in the movie, which knowing the show, I’m sure they will.

8 ) I’ve Made a Huge Mistake

Watch &lt;a href=”http://www.fanpop.com/spots/arrested-development/videos/785114″&gt;I’ve made a huge mistake&lt;/a&gt; on &lt;a href=”http://www.fanpop.com/”&gt;Fanpop&lt;/a&gt;

Perhaps the most pervasive joke in the series, it always popped up at just the right moment.

7) Hey Brother

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo1pkHKHuts

Buster’s greeting never changed, and took a scary turn when he started sneaking up behind Michael with his hook hand before saying it.

6) Gob’s Final Countdown Dance

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9GIICkPzJk

He may not be a great magician, but he’s sure got a damn good opening number.

5) Never Nude

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC7Q715LqPA

“There are literally dozens of us!”

4) Steve Holt!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SFUq91w7sE

Maebe’s crush and Gob’s son had the Pokemon-like trait of expressing himself by saying his own name emphatically.

3) Franklin Delanor Bluth

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvgCvT9xX7A

Sadly, I could only find an audio clip, as copyright police have all but silenced Franklin from the airways. Enjoy this snippet from “It’s Not Easy Bein’ White or Brown.”

2) Tobias the Gaffe Machine

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24Bubq11mR8

Tobias’s sexuality was highly suspect from day one, and his choice of words throughout the show never helped his case.

About The Author

Paul

I think I'm a part of the first generation of journalists to skip print media entirely, and I've learned a lot these last few years at Forbes. My work has appeared on TVOvermind, IGN, and most importantly, a segment on The Colbert Report at one point.

Alf

oh sure. like you’re not even gonna mention the guy in a four thousand dollar suit, COME ON!

OMG I get so tired of people who are huge fans of this show act as if it is there intellect that makes them understand the jokes of this show and the millions of others who don’t like are not intellectually bright enough to understand.

Total B.S. Just because a select few liked the show doesn’t mean that others didn’t get it. Just they didn’t find it funny.

Plus why have clips that illustrate the jokes but you can’t hear them because of some annoying and loud music playing along with it?

Robby

Well, that was a freebie.

Frank

You forgot the subtle recurring Arrested Development Joke. When David Cross was in his Blue-man group phase there would be episodes where you could see blue hand prints on the walls & appliances. It didn’t even matter if Tobias was in the scene or not.

Your Editor

Delano.

Patsywatsy

BIG BIG fan of Arrested. I agree that the cousin luv and teaching a lesson bits were my fav. Arrested, I can’t quit you!!!!

Are you kidding, you’re not a true fan if you dont have “her?” on this list

and “Annyong” on this list?

those are two of the best jokes in the entire series.

you are not a true fan, and how this is number one on DIGG, i will never know.

http://www.factoryedgedesign.com Mike

Not only did this show make jokes about the past but started laying the ground work for later jokes, well in advance. It makes for amazing rewatch value. Has anyone noticed, for example, the amount of hand references Buster makes in season 2? There’s the big red hand chair, he tells Michael i’d cut off my right hand (arm?) for you. I think at another stage he mentions “i’d rather lose my right hand” and i believe there are a number of others, can’t remember them all now and don’t have time to cite the episodes, but its all there. There is also mentioning Carl Weathers well in advance of his onscreen appearance and i’m sure i could find more but its been a while since i watched it. Best comedy show of our times. Suck it sitcoms.

Wow, a truly crappy list for a great tv show. No mention of the “her” jokes, no mention of the dads accomplice teaching the kids a lesson, no mention of Gobs crappy magic tricks…looks like we need someone competent to come up with a list.

Great, the huge mistake made me laugh a piece of roast beef up my nose. Thank you for that.

Big John

“It’s not a trick, it’s an illusion! A trick is what a hooker does for change.”

http://www.ibored.com Bored

Coke-a, Coke-a, Coke-a

hawk

i got you a wedding ring… tone.

gr

I’ve never seen Arrested Development and by the evidence on this page it seems like I’m better off keeping it that way. If those are the *best* recurring jokes, I’d hate to see the *worst* ones!

Are you sure that having a cliché to describe common situations in the series even constitutes a “joke”? Maybe the show failed because the jokes weren’t funny. Certainly not when taken out of context. I mean, *every* show has common catchphrases and eventually calls back to them. The A team had “I love it when a plan comes together” and “I pity the fool”; Monk has “here’s what happened” or “here’s the thing…” But it’s not the fact of that lines are being repeated that make a show funny!

people! the “her” jokes and all the other ones of course where…are classics! but let us not forget that the guy that made this list didnt make the videos! the list is superb! and before you bash it pull your thumb outta your butt and make a list your damn self that is better than this! dont bash it and say that they arent true fans, at least they made one. the fuck have you done for arrested development lately? spread the news about how utterly amazing this show is and how utterly amazing the movie is gonna be too!

Chris

Actually, gr, you’re absolutely right. You DO need to watch this show to understand its genius.

duh

in response to gr:

are you kidding me gr!?!? some of the funniest comedians alive are so funny because they have LINES that are funny that they refer to all the time and the only reason you would get them is because you know the history of the joke. its what makes inside jokes so great.

and the lines from other shows dont even compare. they were never meant to be funny. you clearly know nothing about theater or anything of the sort if you think its the lines being repeated that dont make a show funny. true its not the foundation of what makes a show funny, but it can def. carry a show.

Gr,
The reason AD was taken off the air was because it was unable to get the ratings it needed. This was a result of Fox spending more on advertising for Family Guy, after bringing it back after seeing how much people were watching it on Cartoon Network. AD did NOT fail, as it did receive multiple awards. Check your facts before running your mouth.

http://www.linkognito.com Rook

George Michael imitating the Star Wars kid in the garage? Come on… Great list though!

Vogel

you forgot about “oh, come on!”

lothario

I loved that show…just loved it. It was so odd, so funny and so intelligent.

How did it get canceled?????

Geez, with all of the crap on now the network suits cancel this show! It just ain’t fair.

Kim

Oh C’mon! I can’t believe you tried to make a list of reoccuring AR jokes without the videotape of George Michael’s star-war moves! Anytime any character in the show, regardless of the reason, needs to use videotape, that is what’s on it. That is arguable the all-time best reoccuring joke in television history!
And, honorable mention should go out to Bland, I mean Egg, I mean…her?

santy’s

oh man that’s fucking awesome, i love this show, i can’t believe, but i’m really sad too because that cancelation of the show, anyone now when its going to realease the movie i can’t wait, o man so hilarius, the chicken dance, o man very very funny, thank’s for the video

shenry

You’re gonna get hop-ons

Mr F

pretty good alternate list you’ve all come up with:
NO TOUCHING
CMON!!
her? (she must be really funny)
cornballer
marry me!
Gobs always malfunctioning “illusions”
hop ons
the last cop in beat down

and being born and raised in orange county, my personal favorite of course is “please don’t call it that”

honorable mention: you’ve got yourself a stew

Adam S

My favorite reoccurring joke on the show was after Tobias “blue” himself, from that episode forward you always saw blue handprints, blue smudge marks etc., all over the interior walls of the house.

Robby

Bob Loblaw? Hop ons? Live ins? If a person is incapable of seeing the guffaw inducing humor of this show, I suggest they sign on as a field study for Dr Kevorkian. Also, picking the fake popemobile over a real humvee as a getaway vehicle, and being grateful for the decision, brilliance. Pure, partially adulterated brilliance. Also, if you plan tolast someone for their poor taste, try to spell at least most of the words in the regurgitation correctly, lest you lose even your credibility with yourself. Bonjour

Robby

Bob Loblaw? Hop ons? Live ins? If a person is incapable of seeing the guffaw inducing humor of this show, I suggest they sign on as a field study for Dr Kevorkian. Also, picking the fake popemobile over a real humvee as a getaway vehicle, and being grateful for the decision, brilliance. Pure, partially adulterated brilliance. Also, if you plan to blast someone for their poor taste, try to spell at least most of the words in the regurgitation correctly, lest you lose even your credibility with yourself. Bonjour

http://fancast.com FancastFan

Fancast just put up an interesting interview with Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz about an AD film. He hinted pretty strongly that Michael Cera is the one unknown factor for getting the cast. He also touches on possible story ideas, and says that if for some reason the film doesn’t happen, he will consider consider some kind of online or DVD special resurrection.
The interview is at

Oh yes, “Arrested Development” failed because people are STUPID. It couldn’t possibly be that it failed because it was a repetitive, unfunny pile of suck, and the only reason Net Nerds love it is because they’ve convinced themselves that recognizing a phrase from a previous episode makes them clever and witty. I understand that virgin teenage boys like to convince themselves that they have friends merely because some other dumbass on the Internet repeats the same lame catchphrase, but seriously here: saying the same thing over and over is only funny if you’re physically or intellectually three years old.

If you dont like this show…there’s something wrong with you. Yes, “her?” and “cmon!” should have been on here but they arent so…shut up…and last is shit like george michael and the star wars thing…that came around like 3 or 4 times during the whole show…these are truely RECURRING!

Jim

One of my favorite reoccuring scenes is the video tape of George Micheal’s Star Wars scene in the garage.

Gob

Great list but you missed the best “I’ve made a huge mistake.”
The episode in Reno (the biggest little city in the world), the city has a new slogan, “Make the biggest little mistake of your life.”

Near the end of the episode Gob says, “I’ve made a huge tiny mistake.”

Alison

Maebe: Way to go, Opie!

Narrator: This time she had gone too far.

Umm..

How’s about, “For British eyes only!” or, “MR. F” ?

Liv

I hope the movie adds a whole lot of fresh, new content; HOWEVER! If I don’t see a cameo from Dr. Fishman (AKA-The overly literal doctor/”Ohhhhhhhh, No. You’re not treating my son!”) I will probably cry. That guy was hilarious, and so easy to work in.

http://www.royallyspeaking.com Jeff P.

Her?
Come on!
That was a freebie.

Kevin

Do yourselves a favor and get all three seasons on DVD. The series just gets even more hilarious, especially the MRF episodes.

Travis

I second the vote for the literal doctor. That guy was a goldmine!

zayn

Lucille: You’re high.
Oscar: You’re drunk.

Tobias Fünke: Hey, who wants to take me to the hospital?

Kitty: It’s the last time you’ll see these.

Buster: I’m a monster.

Gob: Michael!

Annyong: Annyong.

and don’t forget Legoland D:

Sam Switzer

Its missing the seal story, and the burger king sponsorship with them discussing how “family friendly” burger king was. actually, every second of this whole show should be on this list. FIX IT!

Kitty

well say goodbye to THESE, michael!

Ameer

No “Her”? One of the funniest recurring jokes in the series.

vidiot

finally, somebody mentioned hop-ons..

“watch out for hop-ons, you’re gunna get hop-ons”, ect.

hilarious.

one i have yet to see mentioned

j. walter weatherman and his ‘lessons’, all of which involve his fake arm being ripped off…

“and that’s why… YOU DON’T YELL…”

oh noes

you’ve offended too many retarded by claiming only smart people get this show
the show is repetitive? care to provide examples other than reoccurring jokes, or at least describe what makes it “unfunny”, otherwise i’ll simple deem you as someone with no sense of humor
repetitive is a poor word to describe a series with so many different styles of comedy

i loved many of the in jokes, and not just the ones you need to watch the show for
things like busters dance which is spoofing a commercial he did before the show
or references to the show’s episodes being cut down or switching networks..
you have to do some leg work to get a lot of the subtle jokes..

not only can you appreciate it for the soundtrack, great story lines, but tobias and george michaels ad libbing, or the shows improv blocking

trust me, if you don’t get this show.. maybe you’re not stupid, but you wouldn’t know comedy if it bit you in the ass..

Brilliant show!
Missed it since I didn’t have access to it when it was originally on, My son has shared it with me now. We are on Season Two and it is incredible. All the characters are great we have a great time watching. Can’t wait for the movie!

Tom

Don’t forget ice cream sandwiches and candy beans

Footage Not Found

“Take a look at Banner, Michael!”

http://paul@unrealitymag.com Paul Tassi

Wow, how big of assholes are Fox? If anyone knows where other videos on the internet are to replace all the ones Fox jacked, point me in the right direction so this article doesn’t suck anymore.

you may have left out a slightly less reccuring but hilarious theme. Busters lucielle and loose seal interactions include foreshadowing in season two, and the two lucielles are also in this longstanidg punnage

Zod

Stupid copyright owners. This sort of tiny clip is something that would work in favor of them. One has to be really stupid to not distinguish the effect of full episodes being pirated and these tiny clips.

I was actually a hold out on this show for a long time, I had watched the first episode and then directly after an episode from the end of the second season. I was obviously unimpressed and the internet love for it sort of hardened it. However, a couple of weeks ago I found it on Netflix instant and watched all three seasons since. I loved it and this list made me laugh my ass off. But where the hell is the movie this list is a year and a half old.

http://arresteddevelopmentjokes.com Anthony

This is the best show ever. Haha, I even made a website about it!

Max

Not a good list IMO. I think I’ve laughed at Her? more than the chicken dance.

Alli

I recall “her” being done a lot more than the Steve/Eve Holt bit (like, at least once an episode). That, and “Come On” is a lot more memorable than the Steve Holt business as well. Disappointing…

Eric

What? No blue hand prints from Tobias trying out for Blueman Group.

You Silly Little Boy

@ parksid701

I REALLY hope you check back on this site sometime so you can read this. You are an idiot. You didn’t get the jokes and had to have a friend explain them to you, then you were humiliated by your stupidity and posted a pathetic comment about it.

That show was a masterpiece from start to finish. If I were you I wouldn’t bother seeing the soon to be released movie, it’s going to have a lot of the “not funny” humor that everyone else loves but you can’t seem to wrap your tiny little head around.

blahblah

i started watching the office and it has a bit of AD insider jokes love it

bittner19

Kitty and her flashing were always a great reoccuring joke.

Wasn’t a reoccuring joke but I loved “white power bill, but I’m white”….

Mr F

The Muffin Man

http://asia-travelbug.blogspot.com/ Mike

Awesome!

I started watching this on a work stint in Manila — because of course it never got shown in Japan — which tends toward the absolute no-brain stuff as you’ve shown in the toilet spray clip (hilarious for a few seconds…until you realize they’re making a 15 minute TV show out of that one thing). I torrented the entire AD series the minute I got back to Tokyo.

As you point out, the reason this show got shit canned is just because it looked stupid on the surface, which probably appealed to stupid people..but the humor was anything BUT stupid. So the stupid people tuned out… It was one of the most intelligently written comedy shows on the air.

Thanks for posting. A bunch of clips have been pulled, but the ones that haven’t been flagged by the fascist bully boys at the networks were great!

I love the way “Arrested Development” fans love to console themselves that the show failed because ‘people are stupid’, and not because of the far more likely reason that the show itself sucked.

Net-Nerds just LOVE to tell themselves that they’re smart because they recognize references to other things that they remember. Kevin Smith has made a career out of reminding people that Star Wars exists. But at some point, just reminding people that you’ve already said something before in an earlier episode isn’t going to keep a show on the air.

scottbutane

Mavent, you’re a troll. We laugh at you.

wonton soup

I mean…it did fail because people are stupid. The show is brilliant. It’s hilarious in a way that nothing else is. Just cuz you need your jokes spoon fed to you like a goddamn sitcom…

Luke

What about the doc jokes?

“He’s gonna be allright”

“I think there’s not too much i can do for him right now”

“We lost him”

“It seems like is dead. He’s all blue”

And the ultimate Buster joke, when he loses his hand:

“- What out for the loose seal!
– I don’t care about Lucille!”

And, of course, all that jokes about Ann Veal. Who?

Sean

@ Mavent…I should hire someone to kick your ass for that!

It seems you may have prematurely shot your wad on what was supposed to be a dry run and now have quite a mess on your hands.

Give the show another try, if you don’t enjoy it then you’re probably more of a Two and a Half Men type of woman.

BOLT

Before busters hand injury he find his hand chair in the attic…
“I never thought I’d miss a hand so much”…I mean COME ON that’s gold!

BOLT

Did anyone mention how uncoordinated the whole family is when they toss things to each other?

“Still doing that thing huh…?”

Karri

4 out of 8 videos not working… bollocks

Lee Banyard

@Mavent

You selfish country music-loving lady!

I guess it only won a billion or so awards, so yeah. What do THEY know.

Person

@ Mavent, either you have not seen the show or you were to stupid to understand the humor, I mean the reason it got canceled was not because it sucked, because it obviously didn’t…Like Lee said it has won tons of awards and is the top-rated tv show all over the web, like IMdB for example it is the highest rated tv show with a 9.6 i believe…
Anyways i think my favorite Arrested Development jokes is everyones names
GOB- George Oscar Bluth
Ann- Anne Frank, haha i love the ann hiding in the attic joke too
Rita- Retard
Maeby- Maybe she is , Maybe she isn’t
Lucille- Loose seal

Oh, i have to add one more thing I think it is very funny how Blands actor switched between seasons and no one noticed HAHAHA.Oh and Ann’s nicknames like Ann-a-bell, and egg are all brilliant, i love how michael uses annabell as a little trick for remembering ann’s name, cause of how her bodies shaped HAHAHA